July was Spain’s hottest month ever, weather agency confirms

Average temperatures across the whole of Spain were 26.5 Celsius for the month of July – a record.

With the summer heat showing very little appetite for retreating as August begins in earnest, Spain’s national weather agency has confirmed that July was the hottest month ever recorded in the country.

The three separate heatwaves that were spread evenly across the month may have caught the headlines, but even in the ‘cooler’ periods in between, temperatures in most parts of the country were often way above average…

The AEMET agency revealed this week that average temperatures for July were 26.5 degrees Celsius – besting the previous hot month of August 2003 by a small margin (August that year averaged temperatures of 26.2 Celsius).

Looked at more closely, the AEMET data reveals some startling facts. Andalucía – home to the Costa del Sol – was the hottest region overall, with an average temperature of 28.2 degrees Celsius, and was also home to the hottest temperatures recorded – both Córdoba and Seville hit 45.2 degrees Celsius in early July, although there were reports that Seville in particular exceeded that figure.

This lengthy period of sustained heat may have pleased Spain’s millions of holidaymakers, its ice cream salesmen, siesta aficionados and makers of Gazpacho – the famous cold soup – but not everybody has welcomed the warmth with open arms.

The hot and dry weather sparked a spate of wildfires in some pockets of the country, not least in Catalonia where hundreds of villagers were forced to evacuate their homes to escape the onrushing flames. Firefighters in the region also went on strike in protest against low pay and stressful, difficult working conditions.

There were even suggestions in the UK media that Spain’s heatwave may have contributed to the death of Cilla Black, but a post mortem has since confirmed that this was not the case.